Arena Security Reviewed After Paris Terror Attacks
|
Version 0 of 1. PARIS — In Trinidad, armed police officers in riot gear were called in to secure a soccer match. In Japan, officers positioned on rooftops monitored a marathon. And in Spain, a “very intense security apparatus” is planned for Saturday’s Real Madrid-Barcelona soccer showdown, including a three-layer perimeter around the famed Santiago Bernabéu Stadium and a doubling of the already increased number of security personnel who will, among other things, inspect fans’ sandwiches. The terrorist attack near the Stade de France — which was part of a wave of deadly violence across this city on Friday night — and a bomb threat on Tuesday that canceled a soccer game in Germany have made sports officials around the world feel newly vulnerable. If the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013 showed with devastating effect how a sporting event could be a target for terrorists, then the Paris attacks have forced teams and leagues to further examine security protocols for more-contained sporting events that bring tens of thousands of people together in a stadium or arena. The reality, according to security experts who have handled sporting events in Europe and the United States, is that even with more aggressive measures, securing a major stadium or match remains a monumental challenge. “Anyone who deals with these kinds of events has always known that big matches and big stadiums are possible targets for terrorists,” said John O’Hare, who works on security plans for high-profile soccer matches in England in his role as an assistant chief constable of the Greater Manchester Police. “What we saw in Paris is that these kinds of attacks are incredibly hard to stop.” He added: “That doesn’t mean we can’t protect people. It just means we have to work even harder.” The difficulties of securing any sporting venue — in Europe, the United States or elsewhere — are easy to understand: Just picture people streaming in from all directions, converging on a single location and packing into a confined space for several hours. Add in the presence of celebrities, star athletes and television cameras, and the combination makes for an obvious target. Joan Carles Molinero, commander of the Catalan police for the Barcelona area, said bomb threats at Barcelona matches were “a common situation” — he stopped just short of calling them daily occurrences — and added that he believed the biggest sporting venues may have to adopt security setups similar to those at airports or museums. “The critical difference is that it is much more difficult to control people at a football match,” he said, “because you have 100,000 people entering the same place in the space of 90 minutes.” Further complicating the matter is the unique nature of each location. The Boston Marathon bombing highlighted the challenge of accounting for every person and every bag along a crowded racecourse that stretches more than 26 miles; the suicide bombers near the Stade de France raised new questions about fortified perimeters and how close people should be able to get to a stadium without being checked. In Brussels on Monday, Belgian soccer officials agreed to cancel an exhibition match between Belgium and Spain on the advice of government officials who had expressed concerns about security. A day later, the last-minute cancellation of the soccer game in Germany, between the national team and the Netherlands in Hanover, was the result of a “concrete” threat, German officials said, prompting discussion on the intersection of intelligence gathering and protection protocols. And, of course, securing a stadium like MetLife Stadium, located in a large, open area outside New York City, is very different from, say, securing Old Trafford in the heart of Manchester. Still, there are some generalities that seem to apply universally. “You need good planning, and you need to be able to measure the objectives as best you can,” said Terry Steans, a former security adviser to FIFA, world soccer’s governing body. “But before all that happens, you have to identify the threats and understand what it is to be a criminal.” Responses in the aftermath of the Paris attacks have varied. A spokesman for the N.F.L., which has standardized security rules across its league, said it would increase the amount of police coverage it has in parking lots around its stadiums and was considering expanding the 100-foot security perimeter it requires teams to have around their venues. Matches in the top two soccer leagues in France this weekend will go on as scheduled but without fans of the visiting teams, as the police will be focused on external security and will not have the resources to properly handle the typical segregation of fans. Basketball and hockey arenas in the United States have seen a marked rise in the number of armed guards at entrances. The top Dutch soccer league said it expected increased security at matches in its three biggest cities (Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague). In Madrid, where Barcelona will play Real Madrid on Saturday in one of the most-watched matches of the Spanish league season, the state secretary for security, Francisco Martínez Vázquez, told reporters that 1,400 private security workers would be used to reinforce a police force of “at least” 1,000 officers — a presence that will be about double the size used at similar games in the past. A Spanish government delegate in Madrid, Concepción Dancausa, said the decision to check sandwiches was made because fans of the Portuguese club Benfica hid flares in their sandwiches to get them past security at a Champions League match against Atlético Madrid in September. Mr. Molinero, the Catalan police commander, said that his office had already met with F.C. Barcelona officials twice this week and that it was scheduled to meet with European soccer’s governing body before Tuesday, when Barcelona has a Champions League match against Italy’s Roma at its Camp Nou stadium. The setup at Camp Nou is similar to many other venues in Europe — a popular team with a big stadium in a residential area — and Mr. Molinero said there had been discussions about opening the stadium earlier to ease the entry of fans. A ban on any bags bigger than a tiny purse is also being considered. Michael O’Neil, a former commanding officer in the counterterrorism unit of the New York Police Department, said fans should expect changes in what they see from security officials at sporting events, in large part because law enforcement has to adapt to the ever-expanding abilities of terrorists. Referring to the suicide bombers at the Stade de France, Mr. O’Neil said: “That attack in Paris was well planned, but it was a low-tech attack. It’s something to be concerned about.” Patrick Brosnan, who is the chief executive of a security consulting firm that works with many sports teams and venues, said his biggest area of apprehension is intelligence. Defending stadiums and other large areas is made even more difficult when there is little or no information about a threat. “We’re not catching intel,” he said, “so a stadium management has to huddle and say, ‘They’ve figured out a way to outsmart us, so we have to protect ourselves.’ ” That, of course, is what entities like the University of Maryland (which banned backpacks this week at basketball and football games) and Port of Spain in the Caribbean (where the paramilitary presence was elevated to previously unseen levels before the soccer match that the United States and Trinidad and Tobago played on Tuesday) are trying to do. “We’ll have to get used to this,” Mr. Molinero said. “It will not be a one-day situation.” He added: “Right now, a sporting event is at the top of our priority list. And we can’t afford to be mediocre.” |